Page 82 of Final Approach

“Maddox, back away from him.” I didn’t enjoy using the name he hated, but the way he was treating my friend wasn’t acceptable. He’d left without any explanation. He didn’t get to dictate the terms now.

Reluctantly, Madman retreated two feet and crossed his arms over his chest in a clear indication this was all he was willing to give.

Fine.

Turning my attention back to Jamie, I drew in a breath and steeled myself for the explanation to come. Was he hurt? Had he suffered memory loss like I had? Why had he chosen to brave the elements and fend for himself instead of staying with the plane? What did he know that I didn’t?

“I’m going to need you to explain that, Jamie,” I said cautiously, unsure how to approach this broken man in front of me. He barely resembled the person I’d held in my memory these last several days. His bright eyes and jovial grin had faded into a shrunken husk. I didn’t know much about his childhood, but the odds his father was also a doomsday prepper were next to none. What had this jungle done to him?

Jamie picked himself up from the dirt to sit. His hands shook in his lap when he stared up at me, his eyes almost—pleading?

Dread sparked like an ember in my gut. These were not the eyes of an innocent man.

“I know you found the drugs.” His gaze fell to his clasped fingers. “I watched you get rid of them. Aileron’s been delivering them for a long time to the El Chaco cartel out of Mexico.”

My brows knit together in a frown. He’d watched us? Madman had destroyed the evidence thirty minutes before we ventured into the woods to find him. The realization he’d been there and chose to run said everything.

Jamie had known about the drugs and had intentionally stayed away.

Our company had been cutting costs everywhere possible, down to the half-assed emergency kit we’d been forced to use for survival, only to pad those same bank accounts with cartel funds? The same cartel with a contract on Madman’s head?

Absolutely not a coincidence.

I’d been so convinced my mentor was innocent, that the man I knew would never sacrifice others for his own gain. Bile rose in the back of my throat, tasting like the truth on my tongue—acrid and bitter.

“You know I like to bet on the races.” His throat bobbed with a deep swallow before continuing. “I owe some powerful people a lot of money. When I was approached to look the other way, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

My friend’s betrayal sliced through my stomach like an acid-dipped dagger. He’d sacrificed our licenses—my license—and endangered everyone in his care, to cover his debts like a coward.

“This time,” he said, but the words caught in his throat, and more tears bled down his cheeks. “This time they wanted us to hand-deliver an inmate, too.” His wet gaze broke free of mine and he glanced over his shoulder at Madman, who emanated every bit of the dangerous air of the leader of a prison gang. Jamie quickly looked away and his gaze landed next on Nikki, who’d stepped up beside me and linked his fingers through mine in a subtle gesture of solidarity.

I couldn’t return it. Had he known any of this? Had he been playing me like Jamie had?

“During our refuel, there was a man waiting to swap out the cargo, with coordinates inside for its next destination. That’s the way we always do it. Someone was waiting in Mexico for Maddox’s hand-off, and then we’d be free and clear, until the next time.”

He thrust his hands in the air with a defeated flourish, as if all would have been right in the world if only the job had gone according to plan.

“Aileron won’t attempt to rescue us because it’ll incriminate them. A plane crash is out of their hands. The transportation safety board will investigate why, which will lead into a deep dive into their entire operation. By now, they’ve probably taken the ELT data offline for no one to find and faked a rescue attempt. What better place to bury a plane than the Darién Gap? It’s what I would do.”

He let out a choked laugh that progressed into a series of hacking coughs.

The harsh realization was a concrete smash over the head. We’d been left for dead.

“You’re fucking unbelievable, Jamie. Fucking unbelievable!” Nikki blew out a breath with a slew of curses I’d never heard. He released my hand and tugged hard on a ringlet on the side of his head. I’d never seen anger cross his beautiful features, let alone this unconcealed display of rage.

The weight on my heart lightened a fraction. His raw emotion convinced me he’d known nothing about this. Ambrose had gone uncharacteristically silent, and Brooks and Tessa, outside of my view, said nothing. What was there to say?

The stunning revelations of our current reality sat on top of all of us like a suffocating pillow. No rescue was coming. We were stuck.

“Was the crash an accident or on purpose?” I grit out, as the bile threatened to choke me. I’d begged the universe for my memories for five days, and I cursed every single entity I didn’t have them now.

His eyes widened like a caught animal in a snare. “An accident, Marley!” He held up both hands in a placating gesture, as if his word could mean anything to me anymore. “One minute, we were cruising. The next, the right wing was out. That landing was a fucking miracle, and only because we managed to get some drag to slow us down.”

The crash wasn’t my fault. Tears bled from my eyes in burning waves, but I couldn’t even be relieved. Crushing guilt sat on top of my lungs instead.

I hadn’t caused the crash, but we’d survived five days for nothing. We wasted our resources by staying still instead of moving north to civilization.

My hope was our death sentence.